Do you leave the barrel in your truck all week? It would be to heavy to try and lift out of a Budget 16 ft truck right?

Yes, it stays in the truck and wieghs 450# when full.

It's also very easy to siphon as long as you loosen the opposing bung to let air in the barrel, or put a valve on that one too!

With the hose on, and another ball valve on the end of the hose, you can maintain the siphon action all week once you get it started.

I would keep the barrel at the back end of the box truck and as long as you control the flow from the end of the hose farthest from the barrel, it will maintain the siphon all week after you get it started the first time.

I do a very similar setup to supply water to my camper all week, but I use 33-gallon barrels so they aren't so heavy. I fill them while vertical, then lay them on their side and rotate them so one fitting is at the lowest position, and the other is at the high position. I have gate valves in each and I crack open the high-side one to vent, I hook a hose to the lower fitting. The camper's water tank is higher than the barrels (on my trailer) so I use an electric pump, but that air-pressure idea looks worthy of testing over here!

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

I'm considering mounting car windshield-washer nozzles around the bow of my Land Yacht, connected to a windshield-washer pump, for "ocean spray" effect. Do you guys think lawn-sprinkler heads would give a better spray pattern, use too much water, or??

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

Captain Goddammit wrote:I'm considering mounting car windshield-washer nozzles around the bow of my Land Yacht, connected to a windshield-washer pump, for "ocean spray" effect. Do you guys think lawn-sprinkler heads would give a better spray pattern, use too much water, or??

I'd say a lawn sprinkler would be too big. either micro sprinkler (like in drip irrigation systems) or maybe 4 regular car nozzles. The drip irrigation sprinklers come with barbed ends for the small hose, and some are even adjustable, and cleanable in case a piece of gunk gets in.

eta: Ha, just had a thought: get me a water tanker, and then you drive by the Frankencamper, yell "rogue wave" and I'll knock everyone off the deck with the water cannon!!!

ygmir wrote:t: get me a water tanker, and then you drive by the Frankencamper, yell "rogue wave" and I'll knock everyone off the deck with the water cannon!!!

Plotting course for Ygmir's now...

I'll check out the micro misters, that's a good idea. I'm drawn to windshield washers for their durability, since they will be out on the forward deck where they're gonna get stomped on but they're more of a jet spray and I'd like more of a fan pattern.

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

Try army surplus stores, and/or "tool" stores. Local to me, there's a place called 'Skyway tools' and they are always advertising food grade plastic and metal barrels for a very inexpensive price. I'm sure you'd be able to find a similar type tool store local to you. And there's always C/L;http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/grd/3678222474.html

A word of caution about those surplus food-grade barrels: I bought several and despite first cleaning them and soaking in bleach-water for days, water always came out of them smelling like Dr. Pepper!If the barrels you get have been used, try to get ones that have a flavor you like, so your showers will be more pleasant!Now I use water tanks scrounged from parted-out campers. They're nice compact rectangle shaped, you can see the water level through them, and they're cheap. But I still use the barrels for carrying out my greywater.

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

Like JStep, I've been known to take my pump sprayer (never used for anything I couldn't drink) full of plain water on walkabout during the hottest afternoons... Many people are happy to accept the offer of a cooling mist.

Not exactly a radical use, but we also use it to clean the windshield of the RV so that we can actually see during Exodus.